"A Tenacious Leader"

Leadership and tenacity are two qualities that helped Irene Posio implement new programs throughout Logan Bus. Logan Bus is rich in talent, and long-standing resilient employees, who are dedicated to completing numerous tasks at hand. However, change can be challenging to any organization. From the start of her career at Logan Bus, Irene spent time educating her colleagues on new programs explaining the “why” and specific strategies behind her work. Having the staff align with new practices is half the battle. As a natural leader, Irene’s tenacity allowed her to look past the nay-sayers and slowly bring them aboard to run the new programs successfully.

“I feel fortunate in my upbringing and career to have been mentored by brilliant and vivacious women, starting academically at The Mary Louis Academy, an all-girls Catholic high school, to my days in public accounting, where two of my supervisors were brilliant women who taught me so much, to the present time working with Lorinda Logan,” says Irene. “The philosophy of helping other women succeed is ingrained in my DNA. With that said, I am empowered to work for woman-owned and run businesses. Linda DeRita and Lisa DiLorenzo are the owners of Guardian Bus Company, and are just starting out in this industry. My goal is to provide them the support they need to become dominate leaders in the school bus industry.”

According to Irene, a coach’s job in sports is to bring out the best in each player. This concept does not differ in managing team members of a school bus company. To bring out the best in someone, listening to them to find out their daily motivation is essential. “You need to give the employee freedom to make mistakes but be able to support them if things do not go as planned. I truly value my team’s thoughts and want them to apply their good ideas into “real world” practice,” she elucidates. “On the contrary, it is vital to provide feedback and the reasons an idea will not work in a constructive manner. I never want a team member to feel that since one idea didn’t work, they should stop innovating.”

As a woman working in a typically male-dominated industry, Irene finds leadership and success happen when one works hard and brings unique ideas to the table. Sometimes it is easy for women to feel timid when a more senior male colleague is present. “Working with a success mindset is the key to achieving your goals,” she states.

To date, the most significant achievement for Logan Bus was the implementation of meteoric growth. While other bus companies were filing bankruptcy, Irene and her team could leverage their infrastructure and management to acquire additional routes to service the children of New York City and Nassau County. “While growing our business, we continued to provide safe and reliable service to the children of our communities,” she explains. “We continue to work on utilizing technology to improve the overall efficiency of our operations.” An example of this is a “Smart Bus.” A bus that has the technology to provide real-time data on the drivers' route, speed, and location. It will also provide real-time data on the condition of the bus, providing the company mileage update and other information that may require service. Cameras will be part of this all-inclusive system that can help the company see the road conditions, the driver’s behavior, and the students on the bus. This will continue to improve the quality and safety they already provide.

“At Logan Bus, our goal is to make this first step seamless, so these children can go onto learn great things. My personal goal is to make sure the infrastructure is in place to take us through the next 50 years,” says Irene who has been hailed as a true inspiration in the industry owing to her unique mindset and ethics with values. Altogether Irene has assisted Logan Bus to reach great heights with steadfast determination and leadership.